Readers Report
Hi all. . . . Aah, Brooklyn. The best place to grow up, but years ago. I don't know about growing up now in certain places in Brooklyn, but years ago, in the 30s and 40s and 50s, that was the place. It was safe, fun, and you learned so many things from being in Brooklyn. I was born in Brooklyn in the 30s, and was raised in Brooklyn. My teen years were spent in the Ridgewood section of Brooklyn. I attended P.S. 106, Halsey Jr. High School, and Bushwick High. I used to live between Wilson and Knickerbocker Avenues there in Ridgewood. My best friend, Dottie L., lived across the street on the corner. I also had lots of other friends on that street, Dottie B., who lived next door to me, Jeana C., across the street also, and Frances C., just up the block. Frances was younger than us, so we didn't hang out together at the beginning. Dottie L. and I were really close, and we still see each other. We don't live in Brooklyn any longer, but we call each other. But we still have a past together, and are still in each other's hearts as best friends. We used to visit the ice cream parlor on Knickerbocker Ave. and hang out there until about 9, play the juke box, and just sit and have our desserts and talk. We used to go to the pizza parlor, and each chip in a quarter for a whole pie and a bottle of soda. There were four of us, which made the total cost one dollar, wow!! Then on Friday night we used to go to Jahn's ice cream parlor in Richmond Hill. My favorite was Tall in the Saddle, a dessert which was a foot high, with 12 scoops of ice cream in it, I think. These days my memory isn't so hot. Ha.
Shopping on Knickerbocker Avenue was the best. The Italian stores, the fruit and vegetable stands, the five and dime stores. On weekends we would go roller skating in the roller rinks, Cypress Rink, Eastern Parkway Rink, etc. They were the greatest. Swimming in Cypress Pool, going to Coney Island, Steeplechase Park, the parachute, the race horses, and after the race horse ride was over, the clowns with the electric sticks, and the air coming up from the ground, the moving stairs. That was really fun. And the evenings, sitting on the stoops with the other girls, while the parents all sat down in the front gates on the benches. Playing ring-a-leevio, potsy, Johnny may I cross the river, red light, Simon says, and all those games. Whatever happened to all those games? Gee, here in Long Island, the kids don't play them anymore. Instead they just stay home and play Nintendo, or with their computers. Maybe these kids might grow up more intelligent than we did, but they won't have as much fun, I'll make a wager on that. Well, it's time for me to close this episode. I have written before here in my Brooklyn, anonymously, but now I chose to leave my name. I'm glad there is this website, for all the people who come from Brooklyn to read, and be nostalgic. Maybe Brooklyn wasn't all that nice to strangers from other places, but to us Brooklynites, it is the best. I really am proud to have come from Brooklyn. Take care. . . . .
I'm a transplanted Brooklynite living in Portsmouth Virginia. I have been in Virginia since 1974. To this day, I can taste in my mind the pizza from the shops near John Jay High School and one near the Plaza Theatre on Flatbush Avenue. When I meet ex-New Yorkers here, one of the first things we talk about is New York pizza. The next time you have a slice, think of us deprived of such pure pleasure.
SBHS '63, BC '67 . . . I thought I'd just do this by stream of consciousness . . . SBHS: Mr. DeLeonardis on the picket line . . . Hurricane Donna the first day of school . . . Nominating Marvin Sachs (fictitious student) for SGO president . . . the tree of knowledge . . . living on the same block (E. 18 St.) as Mr. and Miss Sheepshead (Mike Levinson and Andrea Kantor) . . . Math with Mrs. Gottfried (ugh) and Mr. Venezia (yea) . . . Mr. Newman (physics) proving the phlogiston theory while almost setting his room on fire . . . Rico Petrocelli signs with the Red Sox! . . . trips to Stratford, Conn. . . . great buddies Steve Shapiro, Howie Kirsch, Billy Wagner Cunningham: School was 2nd in USA on Iowa tests . . . 2 with mustard and kraut from "Pop" the Sabrett vendor . . . snowball fights in Kelly Park . . . burger and fries at luncheonette on Coney Is. Ave. and Ave. S . . . Miss Finkelstein (wow!) P.S. 206: Buying baseball cards at Saltzman's candy store (Neck and 22 St.), . . . do you have the "set" yet?? . . .. Miss Keyes' perfume . . . the day the music died . . . take cover drills . . . running bases . . . your own man says you're out! . . . Chinese hand ball . . . Sadie and Lou's candy store (19th and Neck) . . . Bobby Kahn, Mike Singer, Mitch Silverman, Bob Kantor . . . The neighborhood: go to the 2nd car and buttonhook . . . I'll hit you with a pass . . . FraMar on 23rd and U . . . my folks' shoestore (Arlene Bootery) on U and 18th . . . Cookieburgers on U, M, and J . . . Three Star (still there!) . . . waiting for a local at the Neck Rd. station while 3 expresses whip past . . . the smell of burning leaves . . . The call of the "I Cash Clothes" man on Sat. mornings . . . Howdy Doody and Rootie Kazootie . . . Hopalong Cassidy and Gabby Hayes (ya darn tootin'!!) . . . Grand Army Plaza library (wow . . . this is big!) . . . Happy Felton's knot hole gang before the Dodger games . . . Charcolette (later Big Daddy's) on C.I.A. and Y . . . the lampposts in the middle of each intersection on Ocean Pkwy . . . the Staten Is. Ferry (no bridge then) . . . Brighton private . . . the Oceana, Avalon, Mermaid, Graham, Ave. U, Kingsway, Mayfair, Sheepshead, Midwood . . . two films and a bunch of cartoons . . . special color coded student passes . . . jelly apples and pez . . . Junior's burgers and a flick at the Brooklyn Paramount, Fox, or Albee . . . shopping at Mays with mom . . . summer trips to the Catskill hotels (Schenk's, Raleigh, Windsor, Nemerson, Flagler, Granit) . . . Weiner's bungalow colony. All in all . . . Those Were the Days My Friend.
Readers' reports continue . . .
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